The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1887-05-26

that is alleged to exist to-day in four
teen or the states of this Union, In con-
sequence OF the men who were made
voters by the fifteenth amendment that
the representative of the people pro-
pose to take from the national treasury
for the purpose of education upon
political reasons alone, ST., OOO. 600.
believe / viii trouble you with the full
statistics as we are discussing this sub
jet. Recollect. am now giving my
reasons for having cast my vote against
the sixteenth amendment, for which l
was held up in certain countries, in
MeSopOtami, and in all the countries
beyond Jordan, and even in the beauti-
full little village hard by, Damascus,
and In the Wilds of Abyssinia as well,
as having deserted my constituents
and unworthy of the confidence re-
posed in me. Bulletins were issued
and quite an excitement was created,
and certain papers in bold headlines
said: "Ingalls must CO." And Whyp
Because have the hardihood to cast
my vote against the sixteenth proposed
amendment to the Constitution of the
United States, thereby discriminating
in the electoral privilege on account of
sex, and for this was scourged with
stripes and beaten and declared to be
nworthy of public confidence.
The Sixteenth Amendment, If adopt
ed, would have added to this dangerous
element according to the census of
1880, that constitutes in the southern
states so large proportion of the popu-
latlOn, OF white men above the age Of
twenty-one unable to read the ballot
they were to be given with $50, $50, or
over seven per cent. of the entire white
voting population, and the white fe-
males, above the age Of twenty-one
years, who were unable to read and
write, and therefore come within this
illiterate class, l 1853, S04. Of cOlored
females above the age Of twenty-one
years, confined to the states I have
! mentioned, there were 1,022 Isl, or
over sixty-eight per cent. of the entire
colored population. Now, of the color
ed females, by the same census, who
have been added to the voting popula-
ton of the, United States that were of
this dangerous, nliterate and ignorant
class, for which this ST. 600, 10000 was
required to be expended there would be
,125, 749, or over seventy-seven per cent.
of the entire eligible population, that is
If this amendment had been adopted
there would have been added to the al
ready existing illiterate, ignorant and
dangerous element of this country that
many voters, principally in the south
ern states, where the male colored vote
has already been suppressed. With
such dangers to the northern vote and
to the rightful supremacy in legisla-
ton and politics, what would it be if
there were added two million more
illiterate colOred Women2
Now, 1 have nothing whatever to
say about the question of colored
voters. l am simply dealing with this
proposition as public servant charged
with certain functions for which / am
accountable to you, and not to the peO-
pie of any other state, but before this
controversy is over / intend to settle
this question between myself and my
constituents at home and not else
where, and believe that shall be able
to satisfy them that upon rational
grounds affecting the public welfare, it
was not only my duty but my duty to
my country imperatiYely required that
L should cast my vote against that
amendment, and believe that when
it they will appreciate this fact, and
that is that Congress has nothing
whatever to do with suffrage. Therei 5
mistaken idea on this whole subject,
and that is that it requires some amend
ment O'the constitution to allow women
to vote. I deny this. 1t is a matter
entirely within the control of the sever
al states to-day to whom they will grant
the right of suffrage, who shall vote
for members OF congress and for mem
bers of the electoral college.
For the reason l have stated and the
effect of the sixteen amendment if
adopted upon the states mentioned, it
is my impression that a fair unbiased
statement of the reasons that induced
| any member of the national congress
of whatever political faith to vote
! against the sixteenth amendment was
sound, wise, just and prudent. 1 have
seen it announced in some newspapers
| that it was my purpose and intention
to antagoniZe the issue of female suf-
frage here, and to drive it from the
state. 1t would be superfuous for me
to state that nothing could be farther
from my intentions. 1t was entirely
originated in the too fertile magma
ton of some newspaper reporter.
have no such idea, nor purpose. l
know the momentum, 1 know
these great movements for the ameliora-
ton of the condition of the human
race, and for the enlargement of the
boundaries of human liberty, and /
know that equal suffrage will event
ally be conferred upon the women of
the state of Kansas [Great Applausel.
These great movements cannot be re-
tarded. The wise man will seek to di-
rect them, the demagogue will seek to
profit by them, and the fool will some
times endeav0r to stop them. / make
small pretensionS to craftsmanship. /
am sometimes not quite sure whether [
am demagogue or not, but I am quite
sure that am not fool, and I shall
not, like Don QuiXOte, with my Squire
Sancho PanZa, grid myself to attack
the wind mill of female suffrage.
have heard q great many women re-
greet that they were not men, but have
never heard a man wish that he was a
woman, or regret that he had not been
born woman. 1 do not state this with
anything but reverence, although the
statement makes you smile. because.
Notwithstanding all our search and all
our wisdom, sex must forever remain
one of the great insoluble and
mysterious problems of human
that I made shows the inexplicabIe
immunity, the astonishing escape that
man has made in this great problem
from the burdens and weaknesses and
lntirmltieS OF woman, which to every
noble and generous and manly soul are
the source OF her greatest strength. her
guard, her ornament and her protect
ion. Another difficulty about discuss
ing the question of woman suffrage is
OudG 4Co ctONOOdOCo IC1uS6 10 recognize
the radical inherent difference between
man and womon. They insist that
woman shall be treated in this problem
only as weaker and smaller man. A
good woman is better than the best
man; bad woman is worse than the
worst man; but the fact of the sex re-
mains and fixes the relations of the
parties. 1t is idle to attempt to ignore
it, and the difficulty of the situation is
that the argument leaves off where it
ought to begin; and the great difficulty
under which those who are opposed to
female suffrage, who believe It will be
calamity. that it would make women
masculine and men feminine. is that
no man upon the platform, dares to saw
what Is in his mind, and what is in the
mind of every man and every woman
in the audience who hears him. The
of determining the relation
of woman to society, are such that no
man can speak of them without offense.
and that is why argument is impossible.
This is why it is that when the advo-
Gates of this idea, of this theory, insist |